Saturday, December 19, 2009

Airline Service at Gwinnett County Airport?

Propeller Investments, an equity firm from New York, has approached Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta with the idea of privatizing Briscoe airport (LZU). The firm proposes buying the airport and building a 10-gate airline terminal that would handle aircraft up to the size of a 737-900. Their website, whyprivatizebriscoe.com, includes bold renderings that show aircraft of Delta, Continental, Jet Blue, and Southwest on the runway and around the terminal. While it is unlikely Delta would ever use the airport, this could be the perfect opportunity for Southwest to enter the Atlanta market.

15 years ago, the DOT proposed turning Briscoe into a reliever airport for Hartsfield-Jackson but public opposition quickly derailed the plan. Today, the area is now dominated by commercial and industrial development and residential opposition might be less of an issue.

While is the idea of jet airliners at Briscoe is a bit difficult for some to imagine, the airport received scheduled airline service as recently as Spring 2009 when Wings Air operated commuter flights between Lawrenceville and Hartsfield-Jackson.